A mammoth dump… of snow that is, from David&Goliath

In Montreal, where the ihaveanidea Towers are located, it’s fairly easy to get an idea of what ski conditions are like in the winter. We just look out the window. Snow outside? Great, there will probably be snow up in the Laurentian Mountains too. If you live in a city like Los Angeles, however, it’s a little more difficult to determine snowfall, mainly because there isn’t any. It’s hard to get into a skiing or snowboarding frame of mind when you have year-round palm trees and sandy beaches.

A Post-Holiday Inbox Cleaning

What do you get when you take a three day weekend only honoured in Canada and mix it with the reality that the ad world stands still for no one? You get nailed with a whole pile of cool ad stuff to get caught up on!

Taxi helps Vancouver Aquarium visitors get in touch (and in smell, in sight, in sound…)

Yesterday we wrote about Wrigley’s 5 chewing gum finally living up to its “stimulate the five senses” mantra by adding sight, sound and touch via augmented reality. Not to be outdone on the taking-advantage-of-all-five senses front, the Vancouver Aquarium has created the 4D Experience, a cinematic spectacle that mixes your typical 3D theatre with other sensory elements, such as winds, mists and the scent of the sea.

Zig brings in Gary Coleman! Whoo hoo! (oh yeah, it’s for New York Fries)

ihaveanidea Inbox Rule #529b: any ad submission featuring Gary Coleman goes to the front of the line.

New York Fries, a fast food restaurant that, despite its name is headquartered in Canada with locations in the Middle East and Asia, is hitting that landmark 25th anniversary.

TAXI chases cheese for Dairy Farmers of Canada

You know those sports skills we talked about in the last Inbox post? Well it looks like the residents of British Columbia can put those skills to work a few weeks from now by chasing cheese down a mountain.

This August marks the 2nd Annual Canadian Cheese Rolling Festival, a raucous event being held in Whistler, the world famous ski resort town north of Vancouver. The event was created by TAXI Vancouver for Dairy Farmers of Canada, and the centrepiece of the festival is a mad dash down the side of Whistler Mountain while chasing an 11-pound wheel of cheese.

Bottled water gives you super-herpes

Okay, that headline is a bold-faced lie, as is just about everything in this campaign by NYC based DiMassimo Goldstein for Tappening, an organization committed to promoting the benefits of tap water and the drawbacks of bottled water and the plastic containers it is generally found in.

BBDO Argentina: How about a nice cold…”PECSI”?!

Very cool article in AdAge yesterday about Pepsi rebranding itself to suit the linguistics of a particular country – Argentina, in this case.

According to the story, Spanish speaking people — particularly those with an Argentine accent — tend to mispronounce the brand’s name. Instead of calling it “Pepsi”, about 25% of Argentina pronounces it as “Pecsi”.

English beer trounces Australian brew in a campaign by DLKW

The 2009 Ashes series has officially kicked off, pitting the Australian national cricket team against England, in a long standing rivalry that might puzzle North Americans as much as the game of cricket itself. Trust us, it’s a big deal in the UK, and tensions are running high… only to be cooled off by rain delays in Cardiff, Wales.

Leo Burnett Cannes Predictions Reel

Our friends over at Leo Burnett Worldwide have sent us their annual Cannes prediction list, and we thought this was a perfect piece to share with the ihaveanidea audience.

OTHER STORIES

• Mother London gets your ganache all Gü-ey
• Rethink takes Toronto, opening up a shop in April
• I’m a Don Draper girl, in a Don Draper world…
• RCKR/Y&R, BBC have seen the future, and the future is hologram ladies
• BBDO & Frito-Lay chips: you can’t have just one (bag)
• Crispin, Coke Zero are blinding you with science

ALSO IN THE INBOX

MORE NEWS

• Award Show Bedlam! ANDYs, Cannes Lions, Clios, Tomorrow Awards
• Y&R New York, Virgin conquer your fears of not flying upper class
• ‘Drenched’ goldfish pushes it to the limit with CHI & Partners
• BBDO Toronto, Tropicana bring the sunshine way up north
• Award Show Bedlam! Tomorrow Awards, One Club Creative Hall of Fame
• Now YOU can give it a ponder with Y&R NY, LG

MORE NEWS HEADLINES

• Getting on TV is no Picnic, says GPY&R Melbourne
• PSFK’s good ideas; a creative rogues gallery; Burn Back burns again
• Guess who’s coming to Tết? TBWA\Vietnam
• Award Show Bedlam! CASSIES and Cannes Lions
• RCKR/Y&R puts the “rage” in BBC’s Winter Games coverage
• Back to the office for DDB and Bud Light. No swearing, no clothing